PUERTO MONTT

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Puerto Montt, Chile is a nice city with a German influence.  German citizens were recruited to come here and settle.  Many did.

We arrived here without any plans.  We had looked at the ship excursions and saw where they went.  None of them sounded good enough to commit to.  So, as we often do, we went ashore and saw what was being offered by the local taxis.  We were offered a van trip for $30 each for 5 hours with an English speaking guide.  Sounded good to us, too.  So, off we went.

This is the view from a lookout point.

First we drove to a beautiful lake, where we got a lovely view of our first volcanoes.

 There is this lovely town of Puerto Varas.  It is called the city of roses, because it has lots of roses.  The name varas, does not mean roses, though.  It means stick.  I don’t know why either.

Some pictures of the volcanoes

And the rapids, waterfalls along the river running down from the volcano

I do not know this lady’s name or where she is from, or anything.  Just notice that in her hand is a branch.  She is using it to swat flies the size of Florida roaches.  (hope that paints a picture)

On the way we stopped to visit some llamas.  We were told before hand that these were nice llamas and did not spit.  By the way, in Chile, llamas are pronounced  jamas.  (not Yamas)  Who knew that.

This is a Cathedral.  It is smaller than most churches we have seen.  On the freeze are hand painted pictures.  It was closed.

    

Our tour guide was a 20 year old from a small rural town who was going to college in Puerto Montt.  She will be an English teacher.  So guiding during summer  vacation is perfect for her and us.  We wanted to take her home.

Anyway, we had a wonderful day.

ON TO ANTARTICA

I am in Ushuaia, Argentina.  It is our last stop before the antarctic.  I am very excited.  We heard a lecture today about what is planned.  He emphasized that what is planned is most often not what actually happens.  In fact, he will make a map of the planned route and then do an overwrite in another color of where we actually went.  It seems the weather and ice conditions dictate where we are able to navigate.

We are hoping on seeing tons of penguins and seals and whales.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Pictures will follow.

We are having a great time but we are getting tired.  Each day down here we have to get up early to see something.  When we get to the antarctic there will only be 2 hours of dark each nite.  We want to check and see if there are southern lights during that time.  Starting 4am everyday we are down here (4 days) we will start sightseeing.  The ship will go around in circles at night to recharge the systems and, we found out, have the ability to make fresh water.  Then at around 4, we start with the narrated touring.  I do not know at what time they stop the comentary, but there are 3 naturalists on board.  So, we will need a rest home at the end of this episode.

No one has told us if the pictures we have posted on the spaces page are working, or not.  We do not know whether to keep doing it.  Please check it out and let us know.  It takes up much time to do, and I am very willing to do it, but not if noone is looking, or if it is not worth it to you.  If the pictures on the blog are enough, let me know that, too.  Thanks.

We will be posting pictures from our last 3 days tonight.  They include penguins.  And mountains.  And glaciers. 

JUST WANTED TO KNOW

Are any of you looking at our pictures on the other blog?  Is it working?  Do you know that you should go to photos to see the albums we have set up?  Please let me know if is worth putting the full size pictures on there or if there are just too many pictures for you to look at.

Thanks

WHAT IS A NORMAL DAY LIKE

Well that depends on whether we are at sea or going ashore.

On a shore day, we get us between 7-8 and have a buffet breakfast.  Then we get our stuff together and go ashore.  Hopefully, we have decided, somewhat, what we are planning to do.  Sometimes we just walk around and see what there is around the port area.

After we return to the ship, which is usually around 5-6pm, we drop off anything we bought (remember I promised not to buy anything…ha ha)  At around 7 we have a buffet dinner.  We have decided we prefer to eat at the Lido buffet, rather than the dining room for several reasons.  First, the formal dining times are 5:30 and 8.  The first is too early and the second too late.  There is a show after each meal, ie. 8pm and 10pm.  So we eat around 7 and go to the 8pm show.  Usually the show is from OK to very good.  Quite a spread.

After the show, depending on how tired we are, we might go to the piano bar are sing along, or dance to a lovely band, or listen to classical music in another lounge.  Or, like tonight, work on the blog.

On a sea day things can get more confusing.  Duane usually gets up first and goes to a bible study or barbershop meetings.  Arleen waits for the next level of activity at 10.  There is usually a lecture and computer workshops and bridge lessons and who know what else in the morning.  After lunch it starts again.  We have arts and crafts and dance lessons and water color lessons and opera appreciation (with a Rabbi;))

You cannot do all of these things.  The hard part is deciding what you want to miss.  By the way, these are the things that we like to do, I did not list the double the amount more that we choose not to do.  For example, in case you are curious:

Onboard sports:hole-in-one golf by the indoor pool, duplicate bridge,art history, spa seminars, fitness classes, culinary lectures….you got the idea.

Then after dinner we go to the show and maybe watch yesterday’s movie (oh, yeah, we have a movie theatre) or an old movie on TV.  We can also watch any lectures we missed on TV.  So, when do we decide what to do tomorrow.

Boo hoo, I am sure you are thinking.  What problems they have….we are having a wonderful time.  We have stayed away from the scales, but one of these days we will find time to use the wonderful exercise room on board.

Bedtime now.  Any questions?  Just ask and I will eventually answer.

ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND

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Today we arrived at Robinson Crusoe Island after a rocky night.  Luckily everything stayed where it belonged, including the 2 of us.  We both slept pretty well.

The island’s real name is now Robinson Crusoe.  It used to be called Aguas Buenas. Alejandro Selkirk was marooned there in 1704 after complaining about the seaworthiness of the pirate ship he was on.  He stayed on the island for 4 years 4 months before he was able to flag down a passing ship.  Daniel Defoe was inspired to write his classic novel by Selkirk’s story.

We were not sure if we were going to be able to go ashore, since the water was so choppy and the winds were at gale force.  Turns out we could.  It was interesting getting on and off the tenders.  Oh, didn’t I mention that there is no real port here so we had to anchor offshore and tender in.  We even collided with the ship on the trip back.  I must say, though, that the sailors here are more than great.  Here we are in high seas, with old people with tons of different disabilities, and they somehow get us all off and back on the ship safely.  Today it took 5 sailors for each tender pier to help get us off safely.  Well done.

As I said, it is a beautiful island.  Clean fresh air, blue water and lobster boats.  Lovely.

There is a national park here with lots of trails up into the mountains.  Because of it’s location, about 500 miles west of the Chilean mainland, there are 101 endemic species here.  (means found nowhere else, a small Galapagos)  We did not go hiking in the park, but instead walked the town.

There is one paved street downtown.  It runs about 2 blocks and turns to dirt, or rocks, at each end of the 2 blocks.

 

During our walk we met Chicho.  He built this house made out of bottles.  Thousand and thousands of them.  Some are from pop, some from scotch.  Bottles from everything.  He said he hasn’t had a drink in 20 years.  He also said all the bottles are from this island, so everyone else drinks a lot.

Chicho was nice enough to take everyone who asked through his house.  It is 2 stories high.  He uses all kinds of glass.  His front door mat is a
TV screen.  His windows upstairs in his bedroom are made from oven and microwave glass doors.

 

He said the bottles are wonderful insulation.  Even in the winter he has to open his windows because it gets so hot.

He also told us that since his bottles are complete and most are not capped, when the wind blows the right way, the bottles whistle.  We were sorry not to be able to hear it today.  The wind was blowing hard enough, but not in the right direction.

When Chicho found out I was from the US, he got very excited.  I had quite a hard time trying to figure out why.  Even when we found a couple who spoke Spanish, they couldn’t figure out what he was saying.  We eventually figured out that he loves Neil Diamond.  (Nee Deeemoo)  So, I went back to the ship and burned him a couple of CD’s.  I hope he doesn’t have these, since he said he already has 3 CD’s.

 

He was very happy to get his CD’s

We also saw, on the island, a cemetery, a fort, a very small light house and 3 sea lions playing and eating in the ocean.  We saw where the German ship the Dresden was sunk during WW!.  Yes, WW!.  What were they doing off of Chile?  Also,

if you can read this, the Mormon’s stopped off here for 5 days on their way from NY to California, then on to Hawaii.  The longest religious odyssey known.

Another fun, tiring day.  Tomorrow at sea.

SOME INFO

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For Deb, who asked.  The name of the seasick pills is Meclizine Hydrochloride.  And, YES, our new cabin has a balcony.  Duane almost didn’t let me change cabins.  I had been telling people how, last trip, when I was sick in bed from the motion of the ship due to a hurricane in New Zealand,  and Duane was out on the balcony yelling “Wheee!” with glee, had I been able I would have thrown him overboard.  Well now, with these new pills, if I do feel better, but not great, he is fearful that I will follow through on my threat.

Hopefully, we will not put that to the test.

We had quite a bit of movement, with gale force winds last nite, and so far so good.  So, for now, Duane is safe. 

The new cabin has the same setup as the Pacific Princess balcony room. 

See, it even comes with Duane.

VALPARAISO, CHILE

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Before going to the valley, our bus took us on a little tour of Valparaiso.  It is a major city and port, here in Chile.  It also is on a small area of land between the mountains and the sea.  In order to get up to the higher parts of the city, there are acensors.  These are funiculars.  There are 33 in the town.  Only 3 are working right now.  One was made in 18??.  We did not go on one, but here is a picture of one that is working and is near the port.

There are street performers here, too.  This is the second juggler we saw, who just works in the middle of the street during red lights.

Right in the middle of a city block you will find this.  It is a fire station.  See the fire trucks inside.

 

Right before we left port we saw lots and lots of jellyfish.  They are kind of ugly and beautiful at the same time.

Here are a couple of pictures of the port area.  From a distance it is very attractive.  From close up it is a big city with high unemployment and therefore lots of crime and dirt and gang graffiti.